Nashville Town Council President Nancy Crocker wasn't re-elected in November. We talk one last time on her four years on council and what's next after politics.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Nashville Town Council President Nancy Crocker addresses these issues and more on Zoom Tuesday. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: Town council elections were this past November and Nancy, you were up for re-election. But you didn't make it this year, so your term will be over in January. I know you're disappointed are you surprised?
Crocker: Yeah, very surprised. Actually, I've worked very, very hard for this town for the last four years. And very surprised that it was not recognized I guess, by the people of this town, how hard I had worked. When I look back at the election, there were things that happened that really made a difference, my sister passed away, during the day that I was supposed to speak for the League of Women Voters. So lots of things happened that made me not focus on being a quote politician.
And I kind of realized, I'm not a politician. I'm a servant. I'm a worker. I'm willing to to give my time and efforts to better this town, but I'm not somebody that is going to go out and you know, campaign and especially campaign negatively against other people in order to regain my position.
Hren: Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop say they will not run again. So politics and campaigns aren't easy.
Crocker: There's so much social media and issues like that, that it is really a struggle for politicians to stay focused and stay positive. Because there's so much negativity, so many ways people can attack you. Sometimes, they attack you, and they don't even know what they're talking about.
And if you look at our country, I think you'll see that too, I'm sorry about the politicians that are running, I apologize to them, but really not a lot of quality people running for any office now. Because they don't want that. That part of the politics in their life. It's hard. I heard somebody say recently something, I wonder if the Human Rights Commission hurt me, because people that don't want things like that will push other people down because they're just afraid of what will happen.
So anyway, we move on and I'm looking forward to next year, I really don't have a clue what I'm going to do with my spare time. At this point, I've talked to some people possibly about baking for one of the restaurants here or doing something with our town consultant with his company. I'm working at the gallery, I'm still doing my artwork, if I don't want to do anything, I don't have to.
Hren: Looking back at those four years, what are some of the big projects that Nashville needed to get done that you're most proud?
Crocker: During those four years was COVID. So just getting through COVID. And being successful with that. I'm so proud of the emergency group that got put together, I was part of that, and we have a really good base if emergencies do happen in the future.
Overall, just organizing the town, organizing the utilities, the utilities have really come a long way. And these past few years, we formed this utility board, and what they've done and what we've done together, to try to get these utilities turned around and start a process of planning to someday get them in better working conditions.
And then little things like on Main and Johnson down by Sycamore Street, the parking was very tight as far as traffic, and some citizens that live in the area came to me. And so we were able to go out and look at it with those people. And we eliminated some parking spaces. Just at the last meeting, we voted to put a stop sign down as people come in from Helmsburg road to stop that crazy person driving really fast, and then getting into town where it's really tight. And it was dangerous. We were able to make that street safer for our pedestrians.
So I hope that I've turned the council in a new direction. They're listening to the citizens. And I hope that the citizens of this town start being more involved in what's going on because it's so important.
Hren: What would be top of minds of residents in Nashville?
Crocker: I think streets are always concerning - traffic flow, things like that. INDOT has this plan and they're putting in stoplights. I had this idea that at our main intersection, instead of the way it's set up, we do a scramble light. And so they're going to do that in 2024. So I'm excited that it might even come sooner than that.
A scramble is when all traffic stops, and then all pedestrians go, and then all pedestrians stop and the traffic goes. So then you don't get the left turn where people are crossing the street, when it's busy in town, you can go through three lights and only have two cars in front of you because there's so many people crossing the street. All directions cross when the lights scramble.
Hren: We did a feature on tourism this past year, and how it's great, it brings in tourism dollars, but it doesn't really pay the bills. So do you feel that there's been progress with with state legislators?
Crocker: No, I'm gonna be honest, now, but we didn't really get a chance to work toward it. That was one of my goals for the next four years was to try to get some things changed that we could use some of that money and just to get state legislature to recognize small towns more and make it easier for them to be successful.
May still do it in other ways. Maybe possibly do it through the utility board or arts and entertainment commission, you know, things like that. I'm not gonna give up on that. I feel like maybe some eyes were opened. I was at dinner with a bunch of ladies and one woman was talking about how this town needs to focus more on the arts. And I said, wait a minute. It's not the town. It's the visitors center. They're the ones that you're talking about. Not us. We're taking care of residents through the town. And that's something I don't think a lot of people realize the separation there too.
Hren: We really appreciate your time and doing the show this past year. Any final message before we sign off?
Crocker: I just want to thank everybody that has worked with me throughout these four years. Dax Norton has been essential to anything that I accomplished. His knowledge and our new town manager, our county or town clerk. Just great people to work with, I can name every single one of the town employees and say how great they are. So I just want to say that how grateful that I am and grateful that I am that I got this opportunity to work with amazing people. Well, I'm gonna cry. It's a great little town.
